Going for 100...

After cutting my run short to 6.5 instead of 10 the other day, I didn't think I was going to make 100 for the month. :-( However, I got out for a quick 3.1 last night to put this within my grasp! Boss-man is working against me though as he just scheduled a meeting later in the afternoon. Will have to pull a good time if I want to get that 5.32 miles in for 100!! I'm up for it though! Yeah, I realize that some folks run 100 in a week, but I'm definitely NOT one of those folks, so I'm pretty darn excited to add around 30% to my average miles for a month (something like that..) Yeah, I'm a little bruised and have some aches and pains on a daily basis, but I feel good overall and happy to have the ability to do this. :-)

Was thinking about doing something crazy and training for the Hartford marathon (late Oct), but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to dedicate. I'm going to look into it though, come up with what a training plan would look like and try to train as if I'm going to run it. Will make the determination in a month or so depending on my progress. If I'm just not there yet, then I'm definitely going to run the half-marathon they run at the same time. Try to improve on the overall performance, endurace, and time. But today...it's all about running to 100! lol

Update - Ran 5.5mi after work, putting me at 100.18 for June, woohoo! Now for a day or two of rest, oy!

Dog Days of Summer

Thanks for the medals, Jeff! Loving the look of that Donald in the blog. Felt a little weird asking for them.... :-) Displayed with pride though!

Well, tried to roll out of bed early this morning (6am), but ended up snoozing till 7:30a and didn't get out the door till 8am. Needless the say the humidity was there waiting for me. Slowed the pace and made sure I hydrated a bunch. Only got in 6.5 miles though...didn't feel good about this, but I still have a shot at 100 running miles (previous best was ~76) if I can get 8.5 in between tomorrow and Monday. If not, no worries, really happy with all that I've accomplished this month.

Pool project is still not done, dragging a bit actually, but they are shooting to get it ready to use by the end of the week. Will believe it when I see it! LOL

Summer, Fun, and Staying Focused!

Ah, the fond memories of summertime! Family get togethers, hanging out with friends, and even more recently; taking the kids to the beach. What do they all have in common? Typically good tasting, fat inducing, food! Since this is the first year of my life that I'm actually training for something it'll be extra tough to try and maintain that healthy eating directive. Not as much from the weight perspective as in the couple of years past, but from a energy perspective. The goal is to maximize the diet in order to generate good "running" energy. Should be interesting, and I'm sure I'll be doing a good amount of reading on the topic :-) Sometimes with the crazy family summer schedule comes a break in routine which is tough where the running in concerned. However, I'm dedicated to run no matter what, any time of the day where I can fit it in and in any conditions! What I also may do is to off-set some of the miles with low impact work such as swimming (when the pool is done) or biking (need a tune-up badly!).

Speaking of low impact, I think it's defintely a need! I've been battling what I think are shin splints but have been icing and truckin' through it. Unfortunatley they aren't getting better, but haven't gotten any worse either…Soooo, who knows. One of the causes I think is the major shift in distance for this month. I've run more and longer than I've ever run, and have added some speed to that as well. So, for July the focus is on keeping up the distance and maintaining speed hoping to level out. Big 10 mile race at the end of July, so I don't want to kill myself prior to that! Also, I'm going to add another 10 mile race/run the following weekend (Sea Legs Shuffle, what a cool name ;-))

Stroller Boy, the winner? Mr. Voice, say it ain't so! I don't want to hear concessions until the 31st!!!! You've been kickin' some butt this month and I'm pretty darn proud that I pestered you enough to help motivate! Actually, more proud of the work you've done this month, you're talking (and hopefully feeling like) a runner/wogger now and hopefully know you can do this thang in January! We know you can, so it's about time YOU know that! Not to get all mushy, but I'm proud of and inspired by the entire team at least once a day. Honestly, it's the reason I've exceeded my goals to date! Team is a much more powerful 4-letter word that one could ever realize.

On a podcast note, I've finally listened to ALL podcasts on my iPOD….Of course it was due to the fact that I haven't been able to download new ones in a week (spammed computer), but who's counting! Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to deal with the computer problem, but plans are already piling up so I'm not confident in that.

Picked up the Muppets 1st season DVD and watched a couple of episodes last night. Hillarious! Anyone notice how Kermit was a total horn-frog? He hits on all the female guests! LOL Never really noticed that before….

Stick with your plans, Team Voice, don't get lulled to sleep by the lazy summer days, heat, etc. Eric from MouseGuest puts it best, I think, with his show wrap-up "Always follow your dreams and you'll never be lost"….

Mid Year Goals - Review Time!

It's review time folks! Time to dust off those goals set at the beginning of the year and measure your progress thus far. Are you ahead or behind schedule? Did you add new goals or get rid of any? Did you even set goals, aside from "run 13.1 miles in January at Disney…".?
Here were goals I set in February when I decided to take up the sport of running.

1) To actually START running! I'd never run more than a mile in my life, so to actually get it in gear, set goals, and begin a program was a huge accomplishment for me. I'd participated in sports throughout my life, and running was always a part of it, but I think most of you would agree that distance running is a completely different animal. Update: I started running the same day I shelled out $100 for the Disney Half-Marathon. Amazing how money can be a great motivator!
2) Set Monthly and Quarterly targets Review: Hit my targets, for the most part, every month with the exception of the long run in May (Didn't get a 10 mile run in till early June). Race-wise, ran in four 5k races and completed a half-marathon which wasn't in my goals till October! Pretty darn proud of that one. :-) Time-wise, I've been running more in the 8:50-9:15 range (goal was for 9:30min/mile average by May), which I'm pretty psyched about as well. I'm going to adjust the longer range goals on time, but will stick with this at least until the end of July.
3) Join work run team and run 50% of the scheduled races. (Added this one in March)
4) Run/Walk, just COMPLETE the race come January. (This one will change a bit as I know now that I can run the distance, so it'll be updated to a time goal for January)
5) Have Fun! Never in a million years would I have correlated running with fun…..yet, I do, and it is!

Second half of the year goals will be posted on the blog for everyones review pretty soon. Still being a newbie at running, I'm going to be fairly conservative even though I feel like I met or exceeded most of the goals I had set. Hasn't always been easy and we can all atest to! Bumps, bruises, aches and pains along the way….but we've all kept on truckin' and THAT'S the most important part.

I'm going to take the "fast start" in stride as I'm sure the large gains in productivity will begin to level out fairly soon. Feels good to have made it over that initial hump and still feel 100% committed to my long term goal. Thanks to everyone on Team Voice (and some that are not as well) for being so supportive of my goals. Believe it or not, you've ALL made a difference in how much and how hard I've trained. Also, you've been there for all of the crazy questions…nutty blogs….etc. It's been great to watch everyones progress and will make it that much more special to cheer y'all on come January.

Just heard about George Carlin's passing, and it reminded me of the "bad words" sketch :-) What a classic comedian who I'm sure will be missed, but will live on in his numerous works. Of course, my favorite being Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent adventure. Just remember "Be excellent to each other".

Can You Digg It.......

Despite the one no vote on my poll as to whether I should run a half-marathon today or not....I did it. They said it was a very fast course, so I'm thinkin' "piece of cake" right? Yeah, not so much. Rolling hills is more like it! I tell ya, the downslopes are almost as difficult as the upslopes. Didn't really hit the wall per se, but about a half mile to the finish there is this monster hill, elevates 100 feet pretty rapidly and slowly decends on the backside. Legs were pretty tired at this point since it was already the logest run I've ever taken on (10.3 last weekend held the record for a week). But I did it!! WooHoo! Picked up some body glide (thanks Mike) prior to the race to ensure my shirt would stay blood dot free, and it worked like a charm. Also ran a half mile warm up which also worked out very well. Thanks for all of the nice notes and well wishes while I was debating this, it helped put me over the top on the "yes" decision for sure. Also, thought about the group during the race which helped keep me on pace and not slip on my times.

Overall, good race with some areas for improvement, but I did what I set out to do Keep Pace! Actually, I was alot faster than I thought I'd be averaging around 8:55/mile, but thought it would be more like 9:15/9:30ish. End result: 1hr 56min 41sec - 9th out of 18 in 30-39; 56 overall..small field...(http://www.greystoneracing.net/pages/Race%20Results%202008/Compounce%20Half%206.22.08.txt) Not too shabby for my first half! Not Mike-Speed either, but still not too shabby ;-) You still da man, Mike!

Soooo, 13.1 plus .5 (5.5mph) warmup gives me 13.6 for the day....Which drove the whole "Can you dig it......." theme! ;-) Ball is in your court J-man, what you got!?!?

Big Money No Whammy's....

It's time to "PRESS MY LUCK!!!" Okay, so I've decided to go for the gusto and run in the half-marathon tomorrow. I figure that I was going to run 9-10 miles for my long run anyhow, so why not challenge myself a little bit and get a free t-shirt in the process ;-) Not to mention that yesterday's run felt real good, so why not. I'll let ya know how it goes. There are supposed to be scattered showers and thunderstorms tomorrow, but hopefully they'll hold off for the race.

So, yeah, signing is obviously not my strong suit, and those of you that have listened to the AATM podcast by now can agree! Hey, it was pretty funny though, even made myself laugh... We'll see if Jonathan wants to throw out a weekly challenge of his own.

Have you guys caught Rae's blog lately, she's going to "run" a 10k! Awesome! Geez Rae, you're disclaimer about being a walker for the half might have been a bit premature... ;-)

To Run Or Not To Run...THAT is the question..

Picture - Obviously, Rodin's "The Thinker"...Saw this in person when in Paris. The indoor/outdoor museum is one of the quietest places I've ever been...suppose everyone is "thinking"!

Still wishy-washy on whether to run this 1/2 marathon Sunday morning. Looks like the perfect course for a first timer as it's described as fairly flat and fast (no comments from the peanut gallery...:-)). I'd like to run it just at a normal training pace to get the mileage in, and a feel for the distance. However, being the competitive S.O.B that I apparently am, I'd probably burn myself out trying to run it like it was a 5k. Ugh, if I could just shut that off for a morning! LOL I'm leaning towards running it at this point, but we'll see (yesterday evening I was NOT going to do it...). Maybe I'll put up a poll for y'all on the site.

DVC-hole-in-the-backyard project is moving right along. The interior is 99% complete where concrete is concerned. Not sure of the next steps but I think they'll be hooking up the mechanicals, finishing the electrical work, putting in the liner, and then final decking work. Still possible that we'll be done by the end of June, but my guess is that it'll spill into July. Weather has been horrible round here, so that might push it back as well. Great for running (cool), but not so good for pool building.

Training-wise. Mileage is good, not outstanding. Was shooting for 100 run miles this month, but at this pace I may fall a little bit Mongello (ba-dum-dum). My goal for pace was to run 9:30/mi or less and I've been sub-9min for most of my runs (between 9-9:30 for the 9+mile runs). Still have a good amount of time to slowly progress that. Need to carve out some time and do interval training at least once a week. MGreene suggested a regiment for that, and I think I'll give it a go. Just need to figure out when I can get to the track....

Oh, and don't laugh tooooo hard at my horrid attempt at singing! Perhaps there will be some kind of divine intervention and as soon as Jonathan and Bryan listen to the v-mail it'll disappear! LOL

More on the picture in the coming days.....Just remember, I'm Nick Winters, and I'LL be doing the entertaining around here....

Jonathan did 15 miles, yada, yada, yada.....Stroller Boy will sing the hits...yada, yada, yada.....and as the Soup Nazi would say "NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU...ONE YEAR!!!" Thought I had him by mid-week with so-so results, but the J-man cranked it up and won the week long battle. As much as I'm going to want to, I'm not buying a B&C ice cream for myself come January....I'll think of something, but I'll get Mr. Voice, and you're little side-kick too!!! eh-hahahahahahahaaaa. Whoa, I gotta get that checked out, who was that character...

On the training front, I'm still pretty happy about the 10.3 mile run last weekend, but still looking for more. Haven't ruled out that half-marathon at a local amusement park-like place this coming Sunday, but as I mentioned prior, we're heading out with friends the night before. Perhaps I'll be "good" and just have water with dinner.....hmmmm, what to do, what to do....At times like this I think "What would Jonathan The Voice Dichter do?".......

Going to be a tougher week than normal for running as I've lost about half of my team here at work and will need to play the multiple hat game till I can replace them, ugh.... We'll see though, still have a number of good people left and running is important for my mental health as well...so one could argue that I need to take even MORE time to run this week...LOL

Question - I'm watching Rae's workouts and there is a ton of variety in there, what is everyone else doing aside from running/situps/pushups? Hill work? Speed work? MGreene posts his speed work on his blog, and I had asked what that actually entails. Perhaps we can integrate some of this into an upcoming challenge....

Oh, and "What time is it...Summertime, it's our vacation, what time is it, party time school's out scream and shout"... okay, maybe not yet...and most of us aren't in "school"...just thought I'd get a HSMII ref in there... My daughter has caught on to this and the music is embedded in my brain!

Happy Fathers Day

To all the fathers out there, hope you had a great day. Wasn't too bad on my end except that we spent most of the morning packing up the car and heading home from the folks beach house. Good weekend, had a little fun and sun. The training highlight being my run Saturday morning. Now, the amazing part is that I actually got the run in.... Went to bed at 11:30pm thinking I'd get up at 5:30 and get 8-9 miles in. Well....my son hasn't been feeling well so he woke up numerous times coughing and since he was in the same room as us it was hard to just ignore (even though he slept right through it :-)). He settles down by 2-3am, ahhh now its time to really sleep...WRONG! My parents car alarm went off at 3am and then like every 30-60 minutes after. I checked on it at 4am, but apparently it had a mind of it's own. At 5am I was sitting there in the kitchen asking myself if I was really up for a run....car alarm went off again at that moment most likely telling me that I need to get out and run cause I'm not going to get sleep. Got my stuff on and went. First 3 miles were painful, but started to really warm up after that. Was on my way back towards the house and noticed that I'd probably get 7.6 miles so I decided to head down towards the coast guard station/lighthouse and loop back. On the way back as I hit 10 miles I was debating whether I should head back by the beach to try for 13, but knew I'd been out long enough and was happy to post 10.3. A day later and the legs actually feel really good, no icing down needed :-) Just a post note, 10.3 is my longest run EVER.

A shout out to Jonathan for crossing the 15 mile mark for the week! I knew you could do it, but wasn't sure if you were properly motivated :-) Will be sure to leave you a "message"... Did you like the extra challenge? Do you think you'd have done the 15 without it? Why not go for 20 next week! You just let me know if you want to propose a weekly challenge of your own... I tell ya, after that 10 miler, I'm reallllly thinking about doing the 13.1 for my long run this week....we'll see if I've got the time, but I sure have the will now.

So y'all have seen what motivated Jonathan and I during this month so far, what motivates you guys? Why keep pushing yourself? Other than the obvious fact that you want to finish the Disney half-marathon...

Happy Hump Day!

It's cooled down considerably here in the Northeast (down about 10 degree's from yesterday), but still was enough to make it a tough workout. Got a 5 mile run in after work @ 8:50/mile pace. Not sure why, but I felt like I was running in quicksand. Apparently the time doesn't agree. Perhaps I need to work on the pacing thing. All in all, a good run and getting more a more used to the heat. Brings me to 33 miles for June thus far. Heading down to Rhode Island for the weekend to visit with my parents. May try and get a short run in tomorrow, take Friday off, and get my long run in Saturday.

The big 10th anniversary for my wife and I tomorrow (June 12th), amazing how time flies when your up to your ears in applesauce! LOL Nah, we had many years of travelling, sleeping in (to like noon...), and doing pretty much whatever we wanted. Kids are amazing though and not sure how we lived such a boring life prior! ;-) Okay, it wasn't boring, but parents always say "never a dull moment" for a reason. Big smootches to the wife for putting up with me this long :-)

Thanks to Deb for posting her trip report real time, love reading the day by day accounts on the blog. They do this alot on the Disboards, perhaps we can start making this a norm on the AATM forums? I'll sure give it a try come November. How's everyone else doing? Been sort of quiet out there... Training? Trips? Whatever you guys got! Did you check out MGreenes blog? He ran in a Eurocross race, posted an awesome time of course, and got muddy in the process! Kinda cool if you ask me. :-) You can check out the pictures off of a link he posted a few days back.

Next on AATM Idol.......

Hmmm...perhaps this extra challenge to Jonathan wasn't such a good idea....Looks like he's really serious about hearing me sing on the show. Sooooo, my guess here is that you'll regret it when you actually hear it! :-) Probably more William Hung-like than Sanjaya-like....which is pretty bad.... I'm not giving up yet! 15 miles is still a lot of mileage for a week, will just have to wait and see.

Wimped out and did the treadmill last night for 3 miles. Talk about a change in perspective. During the winter I was loving the treadmill, but now that I've gotten outside for a couple of months, it's just aweful! So much so that I'm about a minute behind my outside pace, ugh. Just haven't had the time to get out (other than on the weekend) and the heat today (as well as work meetings) have put a damper on an outdoor run. Checked the calendar and looks like I'll be able to get out tomorrow after work, so that's encouraging.

DVC-Hole-In-The-Backyard Project - They backfilled the pool yesterday and are supposed to be working on the concrete interior today. We'll see how much they get done though as the heat is just brutual out there, not to mention the backyard gets direct sunlight alllll afternoon. Kinda the reason we don't need a heater on this thing (check out my sad little trees....unfortunately landscaping will be the last thing we do for this....)

The Heat is On.....

Literally AND figuratively. And no, I don't mean Axel Foley is going to take on the role as my trainer (or Glen Frey for that matter). Just got back from a 6 mile run that went for 4 miles... Confused? Me too! Actually...the best time for me to get a run in today was around noon in the 95 degree heat. Starting to come clear now, isn't it, the fuzzy math part that is. So I ended up cutting my run short as it felt like I was eating a humidity sandwich with every breath! Lesson learned... Either go for a short run in the heat, go in the early AM or late PM, or just do the work on the treadmill. Anyhoo, glad I got the 4 miles is as my body was like "Hey man, 3 and half is good...you put in 9 last Friday, give me a break!" LOL This is the same body that tries to sell me on the fact that Doritos are really good for me now as they don't include TransFats! Needless to say, I don't listen to HIM anymore... So I said to myself "self, you're doing at least 4." Glad I did! Gotta keep that mileage up as I fear that Jonathan is planning on making a run (pun intended) at me this week.

(New Challenge Alert) Which brings me to my next thought. To make this a little more interesting, I'm extending a side bet to Mr. Voice... You put in more than 15 miles next week and I'll leave a nice v-mail with a song....you're always saying nobody sings on the show (except you that is), so here's your chance! Song of my choosing, got something fun in mind....but a song nonetheless. If you don't put in 15 then you treat me to a sundae at B&C next January. :-) The question is "Do you feel lucky.....well...do ya..." :-)

What the shin pain is going on?

Spent a good amount of time this morning icing my shins. Now, I've never had shin splints, and not totally sure that it's what I've got now, but it appears to have subsided after a good icing. They have been sore since running the 5k last week, but I figured it was just sore muscles. If it gets worse, then I'll have it checked out, but for now it appears that it's just do to the increase in mileage on my muscle. Sticking to today as an off day....but if I get too antsy I may just get a quick mile in this evening, but we'll see.

As for you Mr. Voice....the month is just starting to heat up..no really, it's like 95 degrees here today, kids are melting to the sidewalks...it's not a pretty sight. Too bloody hot to run in this weather...hoping that it cools down a bit by Monday, if not, well, I may hit Rae's 8lb loss goal in like 5 miles....LOL But what I REALLY meant is that the mileage-a-thon is just getting off the ground, and I'm looking for you to turn up that West coast heat...or is that what you already did? Oooooh, now I get it...it's 90+ degrees here on the East coast cause you "turned up the heat"...duuuuh!?!?!

"I want you, Balboa...I want YOU! You can't duck me forever!!!" "I pity the fool" (okay, the last one wasn't Clubber Lang, but c'mon, you can't quote Mr. T without throwin' in a "I pity the fool")

Reporter - "Clubber, what's your prediction for the June challenge with The Voice?"

Clubber - "Paiiiiiiiin"

Bueller....Bueller....Bueller

So you guys are probably wondering "wonder how Stroller Boy did today on his long run?" Well, I did the mile like Ferris Bueller did absences from school.....don't get it?....9 Times.... C'mon, I know I'm not the only one that remembers Pricipal Rooney stating that Ferris was absent 9 times to Mrs. Bueller, right? Hmmm, perhaps I AM that big of a movie quote nerd! OY!

Anyhoo, great 9 mile run, same route as last week, with the exception of time. Ran it in ~1hr 26 minutes last week, but this week brought it down to 1hr 20mi and 56sec. I'm pretty happy with that as it didn't feel like I was pushing myself all that much more than the last run. So, that's 21 miles for the week. Will take tomorrow off and go for 4-6mi on Sunday. Perhaps some hill work in there as well.

Any of you Sox fans miss the game last night? I tell ya, I was in the middle of push-ups when the brawl broke out, got in an extra 30 reps cause I was all amped up over it! LOL Classic match-up tonight, Seattle's "best" v. The mighty Red Sox! Kinda reminds me of another East cost v. West cost battle....or two....Game 1 goes to Celtics.....Week 1 looking like it may go to Stroller Boy....What will the Sox do tonight?

Jog'n Right Along

Training Update - Quick treadmill jog this evening for 2.1 miles which brings me to an even 12 miles for the young month thus far. Taking tomorrow off to rest the legs prior to my long run on Friday. Jonathan is obviously taking this seriously and has gotten off to a great start. Will he tire himself out as the month goes on?..... I tell ya, if he's using this challenge as motivation as much as I am...I could be in trouble! :-) Check this out, makes me think that we need a "Haka" dance of our own for Team Voice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30

Backyard "DVC" Project - So they don't come out the past two days when the weather is beautiful, instead come when it's downpouring to dig the drainage trenches...go figure. :-) In any event, the project is moving along nicely. The "step in spa" now has its jets installed, looking forward to that one after some long hot summer runs! It's a cheaper alternative to putting in an attached hot tub...just in case you were wondering what it was.

Disney Related - Took a couple of days, but I finally got through the AATM show from last week! Great show as always! Love it when Steve Swanson visits the guys. I'll admit that I was reluctant to check out an "all muppet" podcast, but a couple of shows later and I'm hooked on it! Steve does an awesome job, and even the most casual of Muppet-fan would find it educational and entertaining. Side note, was notified a day or so ago that my DVC rent reservation for the half marathon has been placed, just waiting for the confirmation now. Hooked up with this DVC owner through the DisBoards, and is someone that I've chatted with quite a bit since. I'll surely post the whole experience after the trip in January, but so far, so good!

Tuesday, 6.2mi

Posted both June 1 and June 3 runs. Wore the heart rate monitor for the June 1 race, pretty cool to see it charted out :-) Also, I'm still running .01 farther than the recorded mileage on the Garmin. I figure if it's that close, I'm not going to mess with it too much. :-)

Why I Love This "Support Group"...

So I was pretty psyched about my 5k time from Sunday and mentioned it to a couple of friends. One of which I ran my first 5k with back in March. Instead of a "great time/job" I get "were there any hills?". He's asked me this every race I've run since the one I ran with him. Granted, the courses have been fairly flat, but geeez I think the improvement in my times has been dramatic since March! 31:38 to 24:19.....May really not be all that significant, but for a guy who could barely run for 5 minutes at a time in Feb, I'm thrilled that the effort I've put in is paying off. Really want to get into a race with this friend of mine so I can blow his doors off ;-)

So, to my topic, I love this group of people cause you guys really "get it". It's not about one up'n each other, it's about celebrating in each others triumphs (and even the low points...), regardless of where we're all at individually. I think this friend took it as a personally attack, like I was shoving it in his face or something....Anyhoo, it was bothering me, so I thought I'd vent a bit. As always, thanks for listening!

No run today, need the rest as I was still feelin' the 9 miler from Friday. Not sure how much I'm going to get in tomorrow yet as I'm in another work training class for the next three days. Perhaps a treadmill run tomorrow evening, but we'll see if I can't sneak outside prior to sunset. I'm also setting a new goal for push ups and sit ups for June. Blew away the 1600 of each goal from May (2150pu/1840su), so I'm going to set the bar high and go for 2000 of each in June! Felt it first hand how imporant the core muscles are during my 9 miler last week, so it's a focus for this month.

Hoping nothing major is wrong with Jonathan's ankle! Really looking forward to taking this mileage battle till the end of the month! :-)

What a lovely day for a run

Picture - Just after the race this morning. Yeah, it's a DisUnplugged shirt, but in all fairness I don't have an AATM one! ..and what's up with the look on my face? LOL ..and no, I don't drink from a sippy cup....my daughter handed it to me right after I finished, kinda cute and funny actually...one more thing, cotton shirts are okay for only 3.1 miles! No nipple-fatigue...

As for the 5k I ran this morning, all I gotta say till this evening is.....Mike-Speed....


Just watched Manny hit 501....hope you were watchin', Heath!

_____________________________________________________

Update: So, I felt 100% more ready for this race today, although the legs were still a little tired from the 9 miles on Friday. One thing I did different was during warm up. The last couple of races I just kinda hung out and stretched till the thing started. This one, I waited till 30 min prior and ran .6 miles at an easy pace (5.5mph according to the Garmin) and then stretched fully. This brought me right up till race time and I felt warmed up and loose. Started quick for the first 2/10, but settled in so as not to burn myself out. The quick start is actually very good to break out of the pack a little bit (not too much in my case, but it helped). Caught a good groove and stayed pretty steady throughout. Felt some tiredness the last 3/4 of a mile, but shook it off and kept pace with a young kid (13 years old) all the way to the finish. This is the funny part... I passed the 13 year old with about a 1/4 mile left only to hear the crowd start cheering near the finish...yeah, not cheering for me but the kid who started to sprint up to me....So, being the competitive S.O.B that I am, I turned on the jets, passed him back and beat him by a couple of seconds (Garmin said I hit 12mph, but who knows) ;-) The crowd lit up when I turned it on...too funny, half were probably rooting for the kid and the others were like "c'mon old guy!!!" Gave them all a little bit of a thrill, lol!

Here's the result..... 3.1 miles in 24:19 (7:53/mi average I think). So, if running miles count for the challenge, then I've put in 3.7 for the day. 3.1 for the race and .6 for the warm up run. I'll take a screen shot of the ol' Garmin output when I'm on that laptop (in the basement).

Now.. do you smell what Stroller-Boy is cookin'? :-)